Angèle N. Makombo-Eboum, 56, is founding member and leader of a new political party called League of Congolese Democrats (LIDEC) established by ministerial decree of November 3, 2010. She is a candidate in the next presidential elections scheduled for November 2011 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mme Makombo-Eboum vows to use her broad experience in preventive diplomacy and international politics, as well as lessons learnt from the West on freedom, democracy, human rights and accountability to bring change to the Congo.

As an international civil servant with the United Nations for 23 years, Ms. Makombo-Eboum held various positions, dealing in particular with conflict prevention and resolution in Africa.

She was a Senior Political Officer in charge of African issues in the Office of the UN Secretary-General from December 2004 to March 2007. In that capacity, she was a member of the delegation of the Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon during their respective visits to the DRC in March 2006 and January 2007.

From March 2007 to her departure from the United Nations in February 2011, Mme Makombo-Eboum was Senior Political Affairs Officer in the Department of Political Affairs. Before, she worked as a Political Affairs Officer in the same Department, and held similar functions in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. She also held the following positions: Legal Officer in the UN Legal Office; Press Officer in the Department of Information; Legal Consultant with the UN Center on Transnational Corporations; Legal Consultant with the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Native of Kabinda, Eastern Kasai, Ms. Makombo-Eboum was born in Kinshasa on December 1, 1954. She is married to Thomas Eboum, a former UN international civil servant. She has a daughter. Ms. Makombo-Eboum made her first steps in life in Lukula-Mayombe, located in the DRC's western province of Bas-Congo, where her father was working at the time asa Senior Physician Assistant in the 1950s. She attended elementary school in Lyon, France, where her family joined her father, who was studying medicine with a fellowship from the World Health Organization (WHO). The fellowship program was negotiated by the first Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Emery Lumumba.

She attended middle and high school at the Lycée du Sacré Coeur and the Institute Saint Thérèse de Lisieux in Kinshasa where she earned her high school diploma.

Ms. Makombo-Eboum has a Master Law Degree from the University of Paris I- Panthéon Sorbonne. She is also graduated from the prestigious Institute of Political Science of Paris (Sciences Po). In addition, she graduated from the Institute of Judiciary Studies of the University of Paris I- Panthéon Sorbonne. Ms. Makombo-Eboum also earned her Admission Certificate to the Professional Training Center for Attorneys of Paris. She has written articles on Congolese politics.

Integrity, hard work, determination, courage, perseverance, honesty, pride, keeping one's word, christian faith in God, generosity, solidarity, modesty, respect for others regardless of their social status, rejection of injustice, ethnic divisions and regionalism, are the values that Ms. Angèle N. Makombo-Eboum carries, and which were taught to her by her parents, Dr. Roger Raphael Makombo Mutamba and Beya Fatuma Mulonda.

As he was one of the first Congolese to become a physician, Ms. Makombo-Eboum's father, had a great sense of his mission. His commitment and devotion to the public service in a very precarious health environment have very much inspired Ms. Makombo-Eboum to also seek her own way to contribute to the development of her country.